1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic timing device useful in water softeners and other such systems where an automatic timing and programmed operation is required.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different types of devices have been used for automatic timing in water softeners and the like. All of these systems are very complex and have numerous difficulties. None of the prior systems have foolproof indexing of calendar wheels to set time. None of the systems have really good design equiped to prevent jamming and consequent breakage. None of the systems have a really effective method of engagement override and automatic or manual initiation. Additionally, all the prior systems that accomplished the desired features in water softening timers are bulky and do not have a linear type design which is desirable for styling and setting.
One of the first prior devices was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,868,801, but this system was, in reality, little more than a motor with a set of gears which closed successive electrical contacts to activate a succession of solenoid valves. The automation of water valve systems developed from that point on and was not strictly confined to the area of lawn sprinklers. In fact, much of the development was in systems for treating or softening water wherein the need to provide a programming over a long interval of time was precisely the same as in lawn sprinkling systems. In 1933, U.S. Pat. No. 1,937,324 disclosed a system for water treatment wherein a plurality of gears were moved by a motor and were actuated by a wheel keyed into a gear system and having rising pins thereon to contact the lever and move the gears into place. This system, however, used pins on a rotating wheel to actuate the movement of a rotating gear and cause a solenoid system to operate. Likewise, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,246,694 pins on a rotating wheel were used to engage a lever which moved a floating gear into position to actuate an automatic interval timer, but the system had no long range programming available since one cycle went through all the pins on the rotating wheel. In and of itself, the actuating of solenoid valves in sequential timing by placing them around a rotating wheel is not new. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,394 sequential programming of sprinkler heads was made available simply by having the switches placed around a rotating, synchronized, clock-timed gear. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,867 a sprinkling system was disclosed with its own control, however, the control referred to in FIG. 3 of the drawings was a most impressively massive control unit. It required literally dozens of switches, circuits, and timing zone control units to effectuate sequential timing. The mechanism of this invention has accomplished the same result with a few pieces, put together very simply, and designed in a new and unique manner. Likewise, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,766 the programming of timing was accomplished, but the complexity of the arrrangement was incredible and required at least two other independent systems, each to be independent and actually provided no new range sequential program in design. Further developments such as the placing of activatable devices around a rotating cam or pawls to provide new and novel devices such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,643. However, again no long range programming was available in that design and the complexity of the electrical system required was far more complex than the new and novel apparatus of this invention. The simple placing of pins on a pawl to be rotated with a cam arrangement to kick on an actuating device was shown in water softner valve units in U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,041, but here again no long range programming of a sequential nature was possible other than for the most simple types of programs. Likewise, the same approach was adapted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,398 for water sprinkling systems, but here again no long range desirable programming of the nature described in the present invention was made known. Other advances in the area include that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No 3,708,068 where a simple system made of an acutator keying on pins of a rotating wheel was disclosed, but this was simply a yes or no type approach with each way requiring complexity in attempting to adjust the timing within the day. British Specification No. 886,606 has a very complex system which may have been adaptable to the previous device to make a better system, but the complexity of the adaptability would have been so great that it would have had no advantages when compared to the simple device presented herein. While some prior designs of devices are found in washing machine controls, especially the automatic type washing machine, these apparatus have generally been so complex and bulky as to not be adaptable in water sprinkling devices wherein minaturization is of importance. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,720, a very excellent lawn sprinkling system is disclosed but here again the complexity of the control system is so extensive that the expense be prohibitive for a low cost system. The new and novel invention disclosed herein accomplishes the same result in a very simple device of far less cost. Likewise, almost all of the other types of systems would not be adaptable in water sprinkling devices wherein miniaturization is of key importance. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,720 a very excellent lawn sprinkling system is disclosed, but here again the complexity of the controlled system is so extensive that the expense may be prohibitive for a low cost system. The new and novel invention disclosed herein accomplishes the same result in a very simple device of far less cost. Likewise, a good proportioning system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,115 is an excellent distribution system but the complexity of the system far exceeds the advantages presented thereby. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,352 showed a device with pins on a rotating wheel actuating solenoids to activate a lawn sprinkling system but here again each zone or control had to be actuated manually by switches thereon. The new and novel device of this invention overcomes the shortcomings of having to have each system independently programmed. A very excellent water distribution system relying heavily upon mechanical apparatus to activate electrical circuits is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,318,969, but here again the complexity of the electrical system required to accomplish the goal was so extensive as to make the system prohibitively expensive. Much of the problems of that device may have been overcome in U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,167. The mechanical complexity of that device was again so complex that the expense overcame any advantages presented thereby. In the same fashion, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,742,768 - 3,426,603 - 3,670,893 - 1,574,861 and the related patents each show timing devices which are acceptable and sufficient for providing the end result but which are, nevertheless, so complex in either mechanical or electrical design as to be expensive in preparation and therefore prohibitive for use in simple devices.
The new and novel timing device of this invention overcomes all the problems and difficulties associated with prior known timing devices. The system herein presented is fully automatic, is low cost in construction, and is economical to an extent never before achieved in the industry. In addition to being the lowest cost available timing device to provide all the necessary functions, the system is far more foolproof and less subject to damage than any other prior known system.